China enjoys PC boom

Sales of PCs in China will be worth $19.2m this year, with 4.25 million units shipped - a 40 per cent growth from last year.

The estimates come from the Chinese Ministry of Information Industry, which also claims sales will 8.3 million units in 2000.

Jamie Snowdon, analyst at Input, says the growth is due to "the size of the market", because China is playing "catch-up with the West".

He went on to tell Silicon News that it sounds like they are now pulling themselves into the modern world. "With the influence of Hong Kong - now they have it back - the Chinese government may see this as a new form of business," said Snowdon. He explained that in comparison, India has a large off-shore programming community and China could follow-suit.

The Chinese home PC market is also expected to boom, reaching 1.27 million sales this year, up from 540,000 sales the previous year. By the end of the century, home PC sales are expected to account for 40 per cent of the market.